SA Embroiderers' Guild Certificate Workshop: Monograms and Satin Stitch.

I learn so much from being able to attend the Guild's Certificate Workshops, even though I am not enrolled in the course. The November workshop was taken by Christine Bishop and focused on Satin stitch via the medium of a monogram.

Christine provided us with some lovely linen on which to experiment. I chose a solid, large but not gigantic, letter J from amongst the many stencils Christine brought along. For the sake of seeing clearly and being bold I chose to work in red. It was only after Christine pointed it out that I realised I had opened myself to a Christmas theme!

I have, of course, worked quite a lot of satin stitch in my time, but there is a lot of room for improvement.  Christine's tips and instructions certainly helped. I ended up with a reasonable letter - improved by backstitch around the outside edge.

With some instruction, I added a trailing vine and French knot berries.


I discussed with a couple of my fellow students some options to turn this into something useful. I was thinking of a button to wear as a brooch. A stocking was also suggested.

Once I got home, I found some red beads to liven up the berries. I played with the brooch idea but soon hit on the idea of a pinwheel. I like pinwheels, and have been thinking for a couple of months of making one.  So  pinwheel it was.


I had some pieces of milk carton in my Basics to Beyond kit, so cut them to size using a tumbler as template, along with some wadding.





I scrounged around in my stash to find some appropriate figured linen for the back, gathered and lashed the two pieces.


















I chain-stitched around each disc- in cream on the back and a two-colour chain in red and green on the monogram.

To help me keep track of it - and so it can also hang as a decoration - I added a twisted cord.

I then whipped the two discs together.


As a special treat I ordered a pack of red glass-headed pins to complete my pinwheel. They arrived yesterday and worked as well as I hoped.





A great outcome - a useful, pretty object, improvement in my satin stitch and a really pleasant 5 hours spent with a great group of women.

Monogrammed needlerolls

I thought this project, in Inspirations 69, would make a good Christmas present, so I worked on one for each of my daughters.  It is worked on ecru linen with DMC.
The monograms worked well. They are worked in stem stitch, with split stitch outlines. The circle surround is eyelet stitch with granitos for the flower leaves. There are three padded circles in the design - a new technique to me.

 

I had quite a bit of trouble making up the first roll. It took me several attempts to get the pockets right. I had trouble distinguishing between the lining fabric and the outer fabric to get the right bits attached to the zip - a case of more haste less speed, as usual. The second one went more smoothly, but I ended up with the top of the big pocket a bit crooked.

The ring roll is meant to be secured by a stud. The stud came with the kit, but not the tool to attach it, and the instructions were 'attach the stud'. It is a long time since I used studs, and never this kind.

After I had destroyed one stud completely (with a hammer in my hand I don't think 'gentle'!) I decided to use press-studs with a button on top. The two buttons I used were 1940s ones from my mother's stash.



However, I then realised that a small ring (as opposed to my own larger rings) would not fit over the buttons - so more unpicking!

In the end I settled for bullion roses in the white thread.


I also added a small loop to the outside so the ribbon can tie without going around the whole roll and obscuring the monogram. I'd also like to get one of those tiny irons to iron around motifs like this on linen. It is quite hard with an ordinary iron to get into the little corners.

In the end they came up well and made good presents.